


If ...

by Rroselavy



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-01
Updated: 2010-07-01
Packaged: 2017-10-10 08:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/97721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rroselavy/pseuds/Rroselavy





	If ...

Nii eased back in his chair and exhaled a thin stream of blue smoke. His face was bathed in the glow of his monitor, casting his sallow complexion in an even more sickly hue. Row after row of uniform numbers reflected off the lenses of his glasses.

He really needed to find better help. As it was _months_ of careful data collection had been rendered unreliable, _unusable_, all because some peon had neglected to ensure that the temperature in the experimental suite remained a consistent 20ºC. He would take immense pleasure in exacting punishment for that!

Just as his Lady would punish him in her own, special ways after she read the report.

But that didn't matter, not in the long run. This was just a mere setback, a little bump on the playing field of the vast game that had been set into play so many years ago.

His thoughts turned to his opponent. Even though Koumyou Sanzo did not exist in this world any more, Nii was still slave to the wager they'd agreed upon, and in his servitude he was singular in purpose. He would win the bet.

He imagined what the expression of Koumyou's face would be like when Nii showed up victorious, set to rub his win in his face. Koumyou would wear that winsome smile of his, the one that never admitted defeat. And then he would serenely pronounce some procedural error that would render the match a stalemate.

Koumyou was like that. He had an uncanny ability to snatch victory out of the most obvious defeat.

Nii stubbed out the cigarette that had burned down between his index and middle fingers before it threatened to blister his skin. It was times like this, when faced with his own inability to control for every possible thing that could go wrong, when faced with his own _failure_, that he missed his old friend the most.

If Koumyou had not died ...

If Koumyou had not died, Nii knew for certain that he wouldn't have been trapped in the windowless dungeon of a basement in Houtou Castle fiddling with magic and science as he bluffed his way through Gyokumen Koushou's pet project.

If Koumyou had not died, Nii would not even exist. He would still be Ukoku Sanzo, would still visit Koumyou Sanzo when his self-loathing drove him to the point where he needed to seek solace in the other man's warm embrace.

At one time Nii had thought that he hated Koumyou Sanzo, hated the power the man held over him, the power that made him think about someone other than himself, the power that made him _care_. He'd railed against that tether, fought it tooth and nail to gain his freedom. It had only earned him his own, private hell.

If Koumyou Sanzo had not died, Ukoku would have been saved from his very worst enemy. Himself.


End file.
